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28 May 2014

Studies conducted by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on
“radio coverage of local governance issues in selected districts across
Ghana” has revealed that many radio stations in Ghana continue to give
far less attention to local governance and local development issues.
The studies, which focused on 28 selected radio stations spread across
24 districts in eight out of the 10 regions of Ghana, also evidenced
weak capacity and limited understanding of local governance issues among
journalists. Consequently the few local governance programmes and
issues that are broadcast on the studied radio stations tended to be of
low quality, highly un-critical and thus less impactful.

The practice where local radio stations link-up with Accra-based
stations during prime time news and programming, was also found to be a
significant factor affecting local radio’s focus and impact on local
development, participatory and accountable local governance issues.
Besides limited programme production skills and logistical constraints
among journalists and local stations, the study also found reluctance on
the part of District Assembly officials to disclose relevant
information to the media as another major challenge.
The studies were carried out through content analysis of radio
programmes, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with radio
station managers, journalists, officials of District, Municipal and
Metropolitan Assemblies, and community members.
“The findings are worrying and we need to change this situation. This is
because, several studies by the MFWA and other bodies have all
concluded that local radio stations are arguably the most influential
and powerful platforms for fostering participatory, accountable and
transparent governance, particularly at the local level,” said Ms.
Abigail Larbi, the MFWA’s programme officer for Media, Development and
Democratisation.

On what the MFWA was doing to help improve the situation, Ms. Larbi said
the organisation was embarking on a project to help bring about the
needed changes. She explained that the project involves strengthening
local media, and collaborating with them and other key governance actors
to increase citizens’ participation in governance processes while
promoting accountability and responsiveness among duty-bearers.

As part of its intervention, the MFWA is organising a national
stakeholders’ forum on Thursday May 29, 2014, to discuss the challenges
of Ghana’s Decentralisation and Local Governance Process and the role of
the media in dealing with those challenges.

According to the programme officer, the strength of the MFWA’s approach
is the fact that it tries to mobilise all the relevant stakeholders, at
the local as well as national level, to promote and enhance
participatory and accountable local governance in Ghana.

“As we seek participatory governance, we have to be participatory in our
approach. So for the National Stakeholders’ Forum for example, the MFWA
is organising it in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government
and Rural Development, the Institute of Local Government Studies, the
Local Government Services Secretariat, and the National Commission for
Civic Education. Such collaboration will also be established at the
District levels where we work,” Ms. Larbi explained.